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Mobile Suit Gundam 00S: Crossover Episode 16
Opening backstory It has now been a year since events took a turn for the worse. In a decisive move by a mysterious foe, the Earth Sphere Federation has taken prisoner both Daryl and Ransac. Charlie Days and Renki Miniki were killed during the escape from the ESF forces. The remaining core members of Star Strike only managed to escape thanks the efforts of Amuro Ray, Heero Yuy, and Ash Kennedy. Fleeing to a top-secret military base, Star Strike has declared war against the ESF, adding to the already heavy burden of challenging the extraterrestrial Ascent, which has mysteriously become quiet over the year. Capitalizing on this newfound silence, the president of the Earth Sphere Federation has ordered extensive measures to find and destroy Star Strike. Little does the ESF know, they are about to enact plans of their own… 'Chapter 23: Final Preparations' * “Ash! What are you doing just standing there? Get your machine prepared for the mission!” Barked a young woman with long blond hair. She wore the uniform of an engineer. *“I’ve already told you Syrene, ASO’s been prepped for over an hour now!” Replied Ash Kennedy. A man with shoulder length red hair dressed in a red pilot suit. He spoke with obvious irritation at the order, having received them several times before in the past hour. * “Then help the others get ready!” Syrene snapped, throwing her arms up in exasperation. * “Think she’s under enough stress?” Asked Amuro as he entered the hanger, pilot helmet nestled under his arm. Amuro wore a white pilot’s suit sporting a long red line down the right side. His hair was styled in his trademark afro. Despite his joke, Amuro looked unhappy. * “Surprised she hasn’t started jumping down on top of you either, only a matter of time until she finds out you haven’t prepared Hi-Nu to launch.” * “We have plenty of time before the operation begins. I’ll get it ready in time.” Sighed Amuro, leaning himself against the wall. His head turned as he heard someone climbing down the ladder leading to the catwalk. * “You have no idea what you’re getting into. In all my years of knowing Syrene, she has never been this worked up over a mission. Hell, even the ELS Conflict didn’t work her up this much, and we were outnumbered by the thousands.” Warned Longshot. * Longshot stood an inch taller than the Amuro and Ash, and rather than wearing a pilot’s suit, he wore his traditional long green trench coat sporting Star Strike’s flag on the left shoulder. Despite being inside, he was wearing black sunglasses that completely hid his eyes from sight. This had the effect of making his words feel dire. * “Well, I guess we should feel flattered that she’s decided to drive us up the wall too. We’re just as anxious as she is to see this one pull through.” Said Amuro. As if sensing his words, Syrene suddenly snapped around and glared at Amuro. She said nothing but the effect was successful. * “Did anyone else just feel the room get colder?” Chuckled Ash. * “I tried to warn you.” Chuckled Longshot as he returned to the ladder. * “All hands, please begin finishing final preparations for launch. We shall be launching within the hour.” 'Announced Strafe Lenardo, through the com system. The current leader of Star Strike after the loss of both Daryl and Ransac and the oldest remaining member of the organization, having been part of it for over 94 years. He had been strained for the entire year to keep the group going despite the loss of two core members. *Predictably, his announcement did nothing to ease the environment within the hanger. Everyone exploded into havoc as people began rushing to finish their preparations. * “Looks like we’re starting early.” Sighed Amuro as he departed to prepare his mobile suit for launch. *Despite his calm exterior, even Heero Yuy tensed as Strafe made the announcement. * ''“Looks like Syrene got to him.” He thought as he continued his path to the bridge. Over the year, he had made it his goal to memorize The Traveller and all its pathways. The path he was taking now was the fastest trip from the hanger, which he had left the moment he had completed his preparations in Wing Zero. * Heero was one of the more unusual gundam pilots in terms of both looks and appearance. He wore his trademark green tank top and simply jeans rather than a pilot suit, despite the orders to prepare for sortie in his mobile suit. This fit him just fine as he never to rarely wore a pilots suit unless flying in space. * Personality wise, Heero was rather quiet compared to everyone else. It was not that he was in the least shy, Heero simply preferred actions to words. He knew this had at the beginning caused most of the crew of The Traveller, the ship Star Strike used as their flagship, but over time, most either had accepted this or simply did not talk about it. *He arrived to find the bridge in a state of panicked frenzy, likely caused by the sudden change in plan. The changed was the third done this week as Syrene constantly battled against Strafe to ensure the plan went through perfectly. * Unexpectedly, Heero found Strafe in hasty conversation with Milliardo Consulo. Again, he was thrown back by how much Milliardo resembled Ransac. He had never gotten use to the knowledge that Ransac had a clone. * Milliardo looked to be in his early adult years; however, Heero had learned He was in fact close to 91 years old. His body display signs of intense physical training, presumably through extreme piloting exercises designed to push the body to the limits. However, the muscle developed during this training did not make Milliardo look bulky. Curiously, his skin seemed to at times glisten with a metallic sheen. *Unknown to most people, this was closest to the truth, as Milliardo had once been nearly completely assimilated by the metallic ELS over ninety years ago. The forced fusion with the extra-terrestrial had completely halted his aging process while allowing him to turn his skin from flesh to metal at a seconds notice. *Another physical trait that stood out was the fact that his eyes were always glowing in a manner attributed to quantum brainwave usage, an ability used by both Innovators and the ELS to grant telepathy and increased reflexes from what Heero had learned. * In terms of clothing, Milliardo wore a long black cloak, sporting a blue shirt and jeans underneath. *A large difference from Ransac was while his presence tended to put others at ease, Milliardo had a hardness in his stance that put others on their guard. Heero had seen something like this before, when he had last seen Zechs Merquise, the only other gundam pilot to have been flung from Heero’s reality into the one they were currently inhabitants of. Heero expected Milliardo had gone through some intense hardships in his life to become this way. *“You’re rushing this, again. I told you Syrene, despite her good intentions, is only going to see this operation collapse on itself. You’re supposed to be in charge of this organization since Daryl is absent; I suggest you act like it.” Growled Milliardo. *“You have no authority to speak to me like that, Milliardo. As you said, I am in charge and I shall carry things through how I see fit. Now, have you come all this way just to insult me or are you actually going to give us your support?” *“My enforcers are on standby. Rest assured, they’ll assist you for this operation.” *“Your enforcers? What about your group of gundam pilots you’ve been sneaking around for the past year?” Asked Strafe. *“They are busy dealing with more important matters. And I will not be persuaded to recall them anytime soon.” Answered Milliardo. *“Busy doing what? Hiding another colony? Or perhaps stealing someone else’s mobile suit plans to construct your own version?” Said Strafe with sarcasm dripping from every word. “Yes, I know about the Dark Guardian. It wouldn’t be the first time you got your hands on something that wasn’t yours to begin with.” He added. *“And it wouldn’t be the first time that that something belonging to Star Strike under top secret protection was stolen from under their noses too. But, if you must know, they are currently investigating something very important, something that could possibly bring everything we’ve ever done into jeopardy.” *At this, Strafe’s tone and expression turned from utter disdain to curiosity. “And just what might that be?” *“Your claim on what happened back at the ESF Harbor. The idea of facing a God of all things puts us all in a rather problematic situation. Don’t you agree?” *“You believe us then?” Asked Strafe hesitantly. *“Star Strike may be ineffective, wasteful, and completely useless in the long run. However, you have never failed to somehow come across the truth. At least this time it was not before things were too late to stop it. What happened a year ago was both a blessing and a curse.” *“Glad to have your support.” Growled Strafe, his curiosity had temporarily overtaken his disdain of Milliardo, but under the barrage of insults, the curiosity was quickly being replaced by a near physical need to strangle the man. *“Now, if you’re done with your interrogation, I believe Heero here would like a word.” With a nod of his head, Milliardo indicated Heero, who had decided to simply wait out the argument. Without saying another word, Milliardo left the bridge. *“Curse the day Ransac decided not to kill him back at Lagrange 2 all those years ago.” Snapped Strafe as he lifted himself from the captain’s chair. *Standing at about 6’5 with short cut blond hair and blue eyes, Strafe seemed to be within his early twenties. *From what Heero had learned after meeting Strafe in person, the man was far more than he appeared to be. According to Longshot, Strafe had been one of the Gundam Meisters for Star Strike over 94 years ago; flying in nearly every single mission the team was given. Heero had not believed the story until Strafe told him the facts. *Close to 90 years ago, Star Strike had learned that Strafe was not entirely human. Instead, he was what they called an Innovade, living terminals created by Veda, a massive quantum-processing computer designed to maintain Celestial Being and ensure the completion of Aeolia Schenburg’s original plan. Innovades were intended to collect information and infiltrate the world for when Celestial Being began their mission to end war through armed force. *At some point, a special innovade was produced and placed into cold sleep until it was needed, presumably under the premise of supplying a Gundam Meister to the early Celestial Being. Eventually Daryl requested that Veda assign an innovade to Star Strike. Because the organization was intended to operate outside of Veda’s knowledge, Veda disconnected itself from Strafe and transferred him secretly to Star Strike’s base. *Nearly 8 years after becoming active, Strafe was put in charge of maintaining Ransac, Syrene, Jim, Daryl, and Longshot, who were all placed into cold sleep alongside their machines and The Traveller for when the world needed Celestial Being to return. At some point Strafe had lost contact with the asteroid they had been concealed in, which meant he was unable to awaken the group when The Ascent first began their campaign of vengeance. *“I’m surprised Syrene let you leave the hanger. She’s been working herself up so much that soon she’ll be demanding to use one of the GNC-5’s to head out there herself.” Said Strafe. *“She was busy handling everything else. I’m here to report that ZERO’s prediction has remained unchanged, we have an 89% chance of success.” Replied Heero. *“That’s pretty much Veda’s prediction as well. At least know our odds are good in pulling this off.” Strafe must have noticed a change in Heero’s expression, for he added, “But that’s not all there is, is it?” *“Not for ZERO, however, I still don’t think what you’re doing with the True Guardian is wise. You’ve said yourself, we don’t even know if the technologies are fully compatible.” *“You were there during the testing with the Proto Gundam. We’ve done as much as we can regarding those two systems.” *“ZERO is against the merge as well. There are still high odds that both ZERO and Psycoframe will only drive the pilot insane from all the stress the two create.” Warned Heero. Strafe considered this before replying. *“As much as I agree, we really have no choice, not with what he know is out there. I’m confident Ransac will pull through once he’s back.” *“Heavy expectations for only one man.” *“He’s a Gundam Meister, it wouldn’t be the first heavy burden he’s been given.” Sighed Strafe. As much as he had agreed with Heero and even Amuro, for some reason he had refused to cancel their efforts to combine both the ZERO System and Psycoframe into one machine. “I’m sorry Heero, but we need everything we can get for what is to come.” He added. *As much as Heero wanted to argue this decision, he reluctantly gave up. He knew from the beginning that it would be pointless to continue resisting the idea. Even as he had spoke engineers worked to finish the last modifications to Ransac’s mobile suit. “I’ll be heading back to Wing Zero then.” Said Heero. “Let’s hope ZERO is wrong this time.” ''He thought. 'Chapter 24: The Prisoners *As Star Strike began finalizing their preparations, two people stirred in a prison miles away. One of them, a young man in his early twenties with brown hair and eyes looked upward through a barred hole in the wall that served as a window. For the cell they were held in. *“Today’s the day. I can feel it this time.” Said the young man to his companion. There was a stark difference between the two people easily evident at first sight. While the young man seemed to be rather healthy and unharmed, the other looked as if he had suffered greatly. His clothing was torn in places, his hair was lank and unkempt, and his features spoke of long lost hope. The man was lying on his side, facing the wall. *“You’ve said that before, Ransac.” Responded the man with bitterness dripping from each word. *“Ya, well this time I mean it, Daryl.” Snapped Ransac in annoyance. The pair had been prisoners for nearly a year, captured by the Earth Sphere Federation after a startling revelation that the president was not all what he had seemed to be. *While Ransac had never doubt that their friends would come to rescue them, Daryl had slowly lost hope. Ransac believed the cause was both the time it was taking and the knowledge of what they were really up against. On top of that, Daryl had been repeatedly interrogated, and judging from how he appeared after each attempt, tortured for information concerning Star Strike’s current location and fighting strength. Strangely, they had never once gone after Ransac for information, despite his being one of the core members of the now rogue organization. *“As much as I wish they were coming to our rescue, they would have done so long ago considering the resources we had at our disposal. They likely believe us to be dead.” Sighed Daryl as he lifted himself to a sitting position. *“They have access to Veda. There’s no way they would think we’re dead.” Responded Ransac as he continued looking out the window. *“They could have been blocked out. We don’t control Veda, remember?” *“No, but we have someone on the inside. And I highly doubt they’re even aware of his presence or influence.” *“Tieria can only go so far, Ransac. If he were able to do something, he would have told Setsuna at the least. And, as I haven’t seen any ELS flying around here, I doubt he even knows what’s going on.” *Ransac gave up, silently venting his frustration by glaring at the cell’s window rather than prolong the argument. It had gone on for months now, Ransac stating his belief on their rescue, Daryl putting up cases against it. The incarceration had done more than simply defeat Daryl and his typical optimism, it had damaged him. The only thing that could heal him, was likely having his freedom restored. *Ransac turned to face the cell door. Long familiar noises of several locks being opened reverberated within the room. The door swung open to allow several guards in, followed by the prison warden. *“To what do we owe the pleasure this time warden?” Said Ransac sarcastically. Speaking to the warden was anything but pleasurable. *“Your turn in the yard. Both of you get up.” Snapped the warden. When Daryl didn’t move, the guards seized him and forced him to his feet. Reluctantly both prisoners obeyed the command and marched in line behind the warden. *As they walked, Ransac subtly scanned every corner and hall for any and all potential escape routes. He had done this ever since they had been thrown into the prison. To his disappointment, he again failed to find even the slightest hope of escape. The prison was designed to be inescapable. After a few minutes both Ransac and Daryl were shoved forward into the work yard of the prison, temporarily blinding them with the bright light. *The yard was the stereotypical prison yard. Large boulders had been placed at random in different areas. The prisoners were ordered to break them down with pickaxes as a form of exercise. As had been done several times over the months, the pair were handed their pickaxes and separated to pursue their own boulder. *It was nearly three hours later that Ransac and Daryl were locked back in their cells. The yard work had been uneventful until another prisoner had decided to taunt Ransac. Who had responded not only by breaking his boulder in half with his pickaxe, but then had effortlessly taken down the prisoner with a sweeping kick, following by a swift uppercut to take advantage of the downward fall. It had taken fifteen guards to finally pin Ransac down. *“Someone had their fun.” Snorted Daryl as the cell door slammed shut. *“He asked for it, I just merely gave him what he wanted.” Chuckled Ransac as he sat down on his bed. *“What is it with Super Soldiers and getting into fights?” Sighed Daryl as he resumed laying on his side to face the wall. *“It’s what we’re made to do.” Muttered Ransac with a hint of bitterness. He had been created over 90 years ago by a madman named Karith. Karith had used a modified version of his own DNA to create the first perfect super soldier. However his success was short lived as Ransac had refused to obey even in the slightest after he learned what super soldiers were expected to do. Rather than simply accept execution, Ransac had broken out of the lab. *Eventually he had been tracked down by Star Strike, who offered him the chance at a future by working for peace. Faced with immediate death and the chance of doing something meaningful, he had agreed. However Ransac had never forgotten what his original purpose was. Even after his evolution into an Innovator, he still remembered he was created to be the ultimate weapon. *Suddenly Ransac felt a strange sensation. It was as if something in his brain was reacting to something. The feeling was quickly followed by a warm feeling in his eyes. A strong feeling of something approaching brought a smile to his face. *''"They're here."'' He thought triumphantly. Just then the entire prison shook as an explosion ripped through it. Chapter 25: Rescue Operation *'“We are about to begin our rescue operation! All hands report to combat stations immediately! Teams 3 and 4, launch now!”' *''Here we go.'' Thought Heero as he launched. Wing Zero roared as it was thrown from the catapult deck. *“Heero, you’re to cover the ship. Be prepared to fire after we begin.” Warned Strafe over the com. *“Roger, preparing buster rifle.” *'“We are now commencing the mission. The Traveller shall be firing with the hyper particle cannon. After that all units will proceed with their instructed objectives!”' *Heero watched as the front of the ship opened wide, splitting into four triangular sections that revealed a large cannon within. The opening became illuminated as the barrel of the cannon glowed a bright pink. In front of the barrel, three ring shaped GN Fields formed. The glow grew brighter as the cannon reached full power. Heero slowly took aim with his Buster Rifle, making sure to aim for the same area as the ship. *'“HYPER PARTICLE CANNON, FIRE!”' *A massive beam erupted from the cannon, glowing so bright even the ship was briefly hidden from view. Seemingly endless, the beam continued following a straight path to its target. A moment later, a bright light over the horizon filled their view, fading away to reveal smoke rising from where the beam had struck. *“Firing Buster Rifle!” Warned Heero as he pulled the trigger, firing a beam just as destructive from the twin buster rifle. Another explosion followed. However Heero wasn’t paying attention, he was instead watching the multitude of fighter shaped mobile suits launching from the ship at high speeds, all of them heading for the enemy facility they had just attacked. At their head were Ash and Amuro. *One group broke off and veered to position themselves next to Heero. Their custom flames painted onto their machines marked them as Phoenix Squad. *“About time we get to see the GNC-5’s in action.” Said their leader, a man named Patrick Valor. *“There go the Aquas.” Said another pilot, this one female. Heero knew her to be Sara Lorn, another ace pilot and member of the team. She spoke of several blue colored mobile suits that were dropping into the ocean from underneath the ship. *“Keep your eyes open, they’re bound to have reinforcements nearby. They won’t be surprised for long.” Warned Heero. As if summoned by his words, the group was alerted to several mobile suits heading towards them at high speeds. New machines? ''Pondered Heero as they grew closer. *"Incoming Jinxn Eclipse! Looks like they sent the special forces." Warned Chris Evans, another member of the elite team. *“Party’s about to begin. Phoenix Squad, defensive maneuvers, don’t let them near the ship!” Ordered Patrick as he charged after them, transforming his machine from mobile suit into fighter as he went. *Ash pulled into a duck as an ESF Xeros fired its beam gatlings at his machine. As the beams went over his head he slashed with his beam trident, cutting the machine in half. Behind him, a GNC-5 Legend took out an enemy GN Roller that had attempted to fire its cannon at the ASO while Ash was distracted. The tank collapsed as it was consumed by the mobile suit’s buster magnum rifle. *“Thanks for the cover.” Said Ash as he turned to face his next opponent. Before the battle had begun, a plan had been established on how to rescue Ransac and Daryl. For this stage, Ash was simply supposed to draw as much attention to himself as possible, while Amuro made his way into the facility with a small team. He briefly turned to gaze at the Hi-v Gundam through the corner of his eye as he dispatched another Xeros. The mobile suit was being protected by four Legend mobile suits while the pilot was away from the cockpit. For the moment, it was safe. *''We’re counting on you, Amuro. ''Thought Ash as he brought his shield up to defend from an Alteron attacking with its beam rifle. A moment later he was surrounded by black and red mobile suits. These were confirmed by his mobile suits warning system to be GN-XN Eclipse model. ''Special Forces, things are heating up. He added silently as they began their attack from all sides. *Amuro dispatched a guard with a right hook, knocking the man out cold. The group they had just taken out was the most recent in a series of guards to have gotten in their way. So far they had managed to avoid casualties on either side, though at the rate it was going, that wasn’t going to last for much longer. *“We’re running out of time!” Growled Amuro as he beckoned for the group to resume their charge. He swore as yet another group of guards opened fire on them. “Just how many guards can one prison have?!” The group dove into defensive positions and opened fire, aiming for the legs and shoulders. Soon enough those guards fell to. Amuro pulled out a small device and checked the readout displayed on its screen. *“Sir, how much further?” Asked one of the soldiers assigned to the group. *“Two more cell blocks.” Amuro replied. They had already penetrated two blocks, at the rate this was going either Ransac and Daryl would be killed or moved to some other facility. To emphasize the situation, two groups of guards barged into the hall in front of them. However their attention was focused on something else. *“Don’t let them escape!” Shouted one of the guards. Before he could fire his pistol, someone flew through the air and delivered a crushing kick to their head, sending the man flying into his allies and knocking them unconscious when they slammed into the wall. *“You have got to be kidding me…” Sighed Amuro, though his face broke into a smile as he recognized the young man. Another man entered their view, unlike the first this man seemed to be worse for wear. “Hey Ransac, we’re the ones supposed to be doing the rescuing!” *Ransac turned at the voice. “Sorry, I’ll leave the next group to you then.” He replied, a grin spread across his face.